Now this is train travel! May 9th, Victory Day in Russia

We had an 11:40am departure on the high speed bullet train from Moscow to St. Petersburg.  Since it was Victory Day we left the hotel at 9:30am just in case there was any traffic.  Our taxi driver, Demetri, whizzed thru the city and made it to the train station just in time for a 1 1/2 hour wait. 😀 We had plenty of time to buy another Russian sim card for our phone which will allow us to navigate the city of St. Petersburg much easier than relying on our ability to read Russian signage.

Bullett Train

This train is much nicer than the Trans-Siberian.  It is like a ride at Disney World. We opted for second class seats and they were just fine.  First class were double the price and just added 3 inches of leg room. 

The lounge car

 Lunch on the train, best chicken burger, fries and coke zero ever!

This train reached speeds of 198 km/hr which is equivalent to 123 mph. 

This is what 123 MPH looks like on a bullet train

Bullet train ride

After a very comfortable, fast ride we arrived in St. Petersburg at 3:30pm, the exact time we were scheduled to arrive.  We exited the train expecting to see our transport driver and again, no one was there to meet us.  So we started walking the platform towards the exit and finally ran into our driver holding the "William Thomason" sign.  We started walking, briskly, with lots of luggage in tow to what we thought was our taxi.  Well, once again Victory Day got in the way and all the streets were closed.  He was able to communicate to us that we would be WALKING to our hotel.  UGH! We have over 100 pounds of luggage. So into the streets we went and it was mass bedlam. For Victory Day, the citizens march with posters of pictures of their loved ones that were lost in the war.  We were walking with 500,000 people.  This made Bill somewhat uncomfortable since he had received an email warning from the U.S. State Department the day before to avoid crowded areas, especially marches and protests. But unlike the recent marches in the United States, this was very "approved" and peaceful, organized, "clean", and people were walking in solidarity. It was nice and refreshing to see and we couldn't help but wonder what they think of the US when they see our violent marches/protests on the news.  

Walking to the hotel with our "driver". Click here for video. Victory Day

View from our hotel window.

We received a welcome drink of Champagne after checking in to our home for the next three days...the Nevsky Forum Hotel...and watched the marchers from our hotel window.

We left the hotel late in the evening for a very nice dinner.   Bill finally found Beef Stroganoff on the menu and it was outstanding! This city is quainter and livelier than Moscow, and just has a nice feel to it.  Still plenty of police everywhere, but they are nice, friendly and usually can speak a bit of English. It's actually very comforting to see them everywhere! We are excited to tour this city over the next two days! 

A cold, cold day in Moscow on May 8th 2017

Sunday was a gorgeous day.. Monday not so much.  We actually spent the day trampling around the Kremlin in rain, then sleet, then snow.  We were chilled to the bone...wet socks and shoes and all...but tried to make the best of it as we could not leave this city without seeing the heart of Moscow.  We miraculously made our way to the ticket office after being told once again that the Kremlin was closed for Victory Day where we bought tickets to the Kremlin Museums and the Armory.
To enter, one walks across the Troitskiy bridge and enters thru the Troitskaya Tower.

Bill decided to have little fun with the guards....but only after watching a few Koreans doing it first!!!

Inside the Kremlin walls are several Cathedrals.  After awhile they all start to look alike but we went inside them all, some just because we wanted to dry out. Out of respect, you can't take pictures on the inside but we did take pictures of the outsides.

Archangel Cathedral

Synaxis of the Archangel Michael

Annunciation Cathedral

Dormition Cathedral

To read more about the Kremlin Cathedrals, click here. Cathedral Square

From Cathedral Square we went to the The Tsar Cannon on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. It is a monument of Russian artillery casting art, cast in bronze in 1586 in Moscow, by the Russian master bronze caster Andrey Chokhov. Mostly of symbolic impact, it was never used in a war. However the cannon bears traces of at least one firing. Per the Guinness Book of Records it is the largest bombard by caliber in the world, and it is a major tourist attraction in the ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin.

Next stop was the The Tsar Bell. It is located between the Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Kremlin Wall. Made of bronze, the bell was broken during metal casting and has never been rung. The bell is the largest bell in the world, weighing 445,166 lbs, with a height of 20.1 ft and diameter of 22 ft, and thickness of up to 24 in. The broken piece weighs 25,400 lbs. 

On to the Kremlin Armory, which is basically Russia's national archives and an incredible display of relics from it's fascinating, sometimes troubling history. You were not supposed to take pictures but we took a few. This museum was the best part of the Kremlin Tour.  Read about it here:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin_Armoury

Coats of Armor

Coronation Gowns and Crowns

The original Horn of Plenty Cast in silver

Czar's Jewel-encrusted Gospels

Large Clock was a gift to a Tsar's wife but it never worked 

Tourists Freezing

Kremlin Clock tower and Saint Basil on a snowy day

Last stop was the Hard Rock in Moscow for the obligatory pin purchase.  Andrea has been collecting pins from all over the world and has about 50 so far.

We ate an early dinner and went back to the Palace to dry out.  The Kremlin is a must see and we are glad we did not forgo it because of the weather, just wish it wasn't so freezing and miserable! So, all-in-all we got a pretty good look at Moscow. We were pleasantly surprised that it is just like any other European world capital city....beautiful buildings and world-class restaurants, transportation and shopping. Tomorrow, it is on to the former capital...Saint Petersburg...via a four-hour bullet train ride. 

Moscow: A World Class City

After the 5,761 mile, six-day train ride, our train was scheduled to arrive into Moscow station at 2:13 p.m. It arrived...at 2:13 p.m.! Amazing!!! It was Saturday, the sixth of May and after a little confusion at the train station because our pre-arranged transfer did NOT SHOW, we were miraculously able to communicate enough to hire another ride (taxi...and also at a cheaper price!) and made our way to the Petroff Palace Hotel. Luxury at its finest after spending 6 days sleeping on a train!   A welcome change. The concierge rushed up to us as we were checking in, saying that our arranged taxi was waiting for us by coach # 7 at the train. We called B.S. as the train was pulling out as we were wandering around the platform looking for the dude. Conclusion: Somebody screwed-up. Anyway, this joint has a lot of history:

Andrea climbed up the tower stairs to get this photo.  She later learned that it is off limits to palace guests and she could of gotten into a little bit of trouble if caught by security!  It wouldn't have been the first time.... 

We spent the day Sunday touring Moscow.  Tuesday, May 9th is their Victory Day. It is the celebration of defeating Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War (they do not call it WWII). The Soviet Union lost 25 million citizens in the war.  We discovered that Red Square, the Kremlin, etc. were all closed due to practice for Victory day.  It is a national holiday. We decided to go to these areas anyway in hopes that they would be open.   As we walked out of our hotel, we were greeted by an airshow, also practice for Victory Day.  Talk about a show of force!!! It was incredible!!  Click here for the video we made as the full force of the Russian Air Force flew about 900 feet over our heads. Victory Day Flyover

Moscow has a wonderful metro system, very clean, safe and efficient except the signage is a little difficult and none of it is English. Have you ever tried to decipher Russian??  We found out if you pulled out a map, someone will come up and help you.  They are preparing for the World Cup in 2018 and we were told the people are being coached  to help out tourists.  Maybe they could just install some English signs? This is the entrance going down into the train station. 

We made it to our final station without any issues but the exits were closed, practice for Victory Day was right above us. So after talking to security, which is everywhere, we got back on the train and went one station up.  It was a pretty area and Sunday church was just being let out and the bells were tolling. There were two people ringing the bells, an adult and a child.  Click here to listen to the bells, just beautiful.  Church Bells

We quickly learned that we could walk back to the area that we were earlier denied entrance to in about a 15 minute walk.  So off we set. Police and military are everywhere. 

Statue of Karl Marx

Huge marquee for Victory Day Celebration

First stop after we made it to the Kremlin area was the Hotel Metropol. It is the largest hotel built before the Russian Revolution of 1917.  It was built in 1899-1907 and Russia's most famous hotel.  Andrea's sister Jill told her that her bookclub just read a book that took place here and wanted some pictures for her bookclub ladies.  It was magnificent. 

Lobby

Since the entrance to Red Square and the Kremlin were blocked with barricades we had to make our way to Saint Basil's Cathedral through alleyways. We were given directions from a police officer who wore a big badge saying "Tourist Police"  We figured he had to speak English and he did, very well.  Andrea asked him if the area was safe, and he laughed. "Of course you are safe, THIS IS MOSCOW!" 

Along the way we ran across this double carousel. 

Outside of Red Square 

It was an interesting walk and we did catch a peak of red square.  It is set up for the Victory parade on Tuesday.  Here are the parade viewing stands. The military parade viewing is by invitation only (we weren't) but the parade does travel down of the very long streets in Moscow for the public to view.   

Better picture of Red Square from the viewpoint of Saint Basil's. 

Russia's female soldiers practicing for the Victory Day parade. We did see them march, but did not take this picture. 

You can't visit Moscow without seeing Saint Basil's.  The interior was closed to the public but we could see it from the outside. 

We heard that the Kremlin was going to open at 2pm so we made our way "around the corner" to the main entrance.  Around the corner was about a mile away,  but we did see some some beautiful sites along the way. 

Looking back towards the Kremlin from the pedestrian bridge by the  Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

By the time we made it to the Kremlin ticket office, the crowds were huge and the lines looked to be about an hour long,  So we opted out of the Kremlin tour and made our way to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.  Some of the art works and artifacts:

There were several works of Picasso here

This is an actually mummy and beside it, their mummified their cat! 

This had to be one special cat!!

Italian Art

We spent about 2 hours in the museum and made our way back to the Kremlin just in time for closing.  We tried to score tickets for the next day but no advance sales.  We made our way down to the tomb of the unknown soldier and watched the changing of the guard. Click here for the video! 

Changing of the Guard

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

He opened the gate allowing for people to put flowers on the  tomb. 

Children placing flowers

Old original wall of the Kremlin

The gardens surrounding the Kremlin were in bloom.  To read about its famous garden and fountains, click here. Fountains_in_Moscow

We wrapped up the day in front of the State Historical Museum which we plan on touring tomorrow. 

After navigating the metro home, we FaceTimed Bill's parents and then went out to eat. And just for looks, Andrea's dinner salad from an Italian restaurant near our hotel.  Scrumptious!